Wiki Style Guide
While wiki articles can be written in any old way, it makes it easier for readers and editors alike if there is a certain amount of consistency in how it is written and files are displayed. Editors are encouraged to remember: if you find a poorly written or poorly formatted page, the best thing to do is to edit it into a better one. If you have questions about certain points of this article, go to the talk page of this article by hitting the "Discussion" tab on the far right. Article Names Article names should have the first letter capitalized. This means the article's title would be "Support" rather than "support". But don't capitalize the entire block of letters! So it should not appear as "SUPPORT". As a rule of thumb however, capitalize and spell things the same way they do in the game. If you aren't sure how they capitalized and spelled things, go check in your game. That is why the article name of "Sack of Loot" is the way it is instead of "Sack of loot". Try not to use abbreviations in the article name, as this makes it more difficult for users to find what they're looking for. The exception is when the game itself uses abbreviations, such as "U.S.A. Flag" instead of "United States of America Flag". Articles and prepositions should be left uncapitalized. This means that the words like "the", "and" and "of", if it is in the title, should be uncapitalized. Try not to use the word "The" to start the article name. It makes it harder for the article to be found and more redirects have to be made. So instead of titling the article "The Jackatrice" simply title it "Jackatrice". Content When writing the content of an article, use full sentences. Place contents where it is relevant and correct. Check similar, existing pages you have never edited before to see how the content is written. Looking over other editors' works is the best method you can learn. Do not list the information out unless a list is appropriate. Headers Separate the sections of the article with headers. Headers are made by putting two equal signs ( ), then the header title, then another two equal signs. For example: : Sheep For headers below the original headers, just put another pair of equal signs on, one on either side: : Wool Headers follow the same capitalization, spelling and abbreviation rules as article titles do. That means capitalize and spell things the way it is done in the game and avoid using abbreviations when possible. Since headers are to be capitalized by the same rules as article names, articles and prepositions should be left uncapitalized. Links Linking an article to another article in the wiki is a good idea. It allows readers to explore the wiki, possibly on topics and articles they never even knew existed before. Links are formed by putting two sets of square brackets ([[]]) around the text. For instance: :Sugar Cane Linking articles to other, external websites is permitted, but not encouraged. References Try to reference what is written to what developers have posted. The locked posts on the Meteor Games forum is always a good source. Only use the reference system if you know how. Lists To form numbered lists, use # at the start of each item. Use numbered lists when the sequence of items is important. For instance: #Cows #Sheep #Chickens would form: #Cows #Sheep #Chickens To use bulleted lists where the sequence of items is not important: *Chickens **English Game Hens *Flamingos would form: *Chickens **English Game Hens *Flamingos Tables Tables are (generally) used to display large amounts of numerical data for comparison. Editors are encouraged to use wiki markup rather than html markup to make tables. Text Elements This section is about displaying text in an article. Bold and Italics Bold text is used to emphasize a point and should be used sparingly. Avoid using it to bold an entire sentence, as that makes it difficult to read and ruins the point of emphasizing certain words. It is made by putting three apostrophes on either side of the text to be bolded. For instance: :everything! Italics is also used to emphasize and should be used in the same manner as bold text. It is made by placing two apostrophes on either side of the text to be italicized. For instance: :everyone! Font Color Changing the color of a font is possible, but not encouraged. It can make reading difficult if players are colorblind or their screen settings are such that they cannot differentiate the colors. Deletion All editors can nominate articles for deletion by putting the deletion template onto the page by typing . It is recommended that after doing that, you go to the talk page of the article and explain why it should be deleted. If the reason is valid, an administrator will delete the article. Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation There certainly are differences between British English and American English. Both are perfectly acceptable to use, as Meteor Games is founded by Adam and Donna, who are British, but the company is based in the United States. As a rule of thumb, if the game spells it that way, then spell it that way on the article. If the game is inconsistent ("Small Omelette," says the Cookbook. "Small Omelet," says the Inventory.) then use whichever one is already used on that article to keep from confusing readers and future editors. Abbreviations Try not to use abbreviations when writing. Not all players know the abbreviations and this could lead to confusion. So for example, instead of writing "neighbar" write "neighbor bar". The exception to this is experience, coins and Meteor Credits. It is acceptable to shorten these to xp or exp, c and MC respectively. As well, avoid using chat speak and leet speak (or 1337 5P34K). Using chat or leet speak makes reading difficult for readers and editors alike. Pictures Pictures can be inserted using the Add Picture icon ( ) on the toolbar. Uploading Make sure to crop pictures so that there are no giant white spaces around it or other irrelevant items in the background. So if you are trying to get a picture of the Daffodil, try not to get a dozen other flowers in the background as well as it will only confuse readers. Generally, when uploading, do not overwrite another image with the same name. Change the name of your file, even by doing something so simple as adding a number at the end. There are exceptions to the case. For instance, if the To Do List tells you "You may overwrite this image." then go right ahead and do it. The file type you are trying to upload must be one the wiki accepts. The wiki accepts png, gif, jpg, jpeg, ico, ogg, pdf, xcf, svg, mid, odt, ods, odp, odg, odc, odf, odi, odm. This wiki prefers it if you use png file because it prevents the discoloration and maintains high quality that other image formats do not have. The image must also be no bigger than 10MB. When selecting the licensing, register the image as "This is copyrighted. The copyright holder had given permission for its use." because Island Paradise is a copyright of Meteor Games. We are using these copyrighted images and should give credit to them for their artwork. If you do not select this when uploading the image, expect to find an administrator reprimanding you. However if the image contains any Facebook elements, like posting a box onto feed or something similar, then it is registered as "This will be used in a way that qualifies as fair use under US laws." Displaying It is best to display pictures on the right side of the page rather than the left or center. Displaying pictures on the right will not interfere with other layouts and elements that may be embedded onto the page. If you find pages with pictures on the left that are clearly interfering with the text, then move it to the right. If there are more images for that page than there is text, it may be best to display it in a gallery. An example of a gallery would be the Ollie page. Templates Some pages will have specific templates designated for them. If you are creating a new page, check existing pages in the same category to see if they have certain templates already on them and make sure to use them. There are certain pages that will definitely have templates on them. They are: individual crop pages, individual tree pages and individual animal pages. Templates for these three may be found on User blog:Goldenguppies/Information dump. Talk Pages All article talk pages should start with the talk header. If you discover an article's talk page with no talkheader, simply add one at the top of the page by typing . Article talk pages are meant to discuss improvements with the article, not off topic chat (do that on User talk pages). Leaving Comments To leave a comment, you can simply hit the "Edit" button on the green toolbar and type in a comment. If you a replying to someone's comment, it is a good idea to leave a blank line between your and their comment so everyone can distinguish who said what. So for instance: Do you think its a good idea?Yeah it's a great one! or: Do you think its a good idea? Yeah it's a great one! Those two exampled above are examples of bad commenting. It would look as though someone was talking to themselves. Instead, do this: Do you think this is a good idea? Yeah, it's a great one! Signature When you leave comments on article talk pages, make sure to sign of with four tildes (~~~~}. The four tildes will convert into your signature, so for instance: :~~~~ turns into :--Goldenguppies Island Paradise Wiki Administrator 15:40, April 3, 2010 (UTC) To take from the example in the previous section: Do you think its a good idea? ~~~~ Yeah it's a great one! ~~~~ In the case of a user's talk page, it is also polite to sign off your comments with the four tildes. User pages may or may not have the talk header, that is the user's preference. If it is there, please respect it. Do not sign article pages. Articles are meant as a community project, not something built by an individual. The exception is the To Do List because it must be known which administrator assigned the task so if there are questions they can be asked about it. You can customize your signature by clicking on the "MORE" button at the far above right and selecting "Preferences". There is a signature field where you can enter your customized signature. There are rules about signatures however. Rules #Signatures may not link to other user's pages. It must link to your own. #Signatures must be true. You cannot claim you are a wiki administrator unless you are. If your signature is false, it can result in a ban until it is changed. #Keep it polite. Signatures that are meant to inflame other users, or a group of users can also result in a ban until changed. #Try not to use too much complicated code. Sure, bright neon and sparkly pink signatures with a picture of you in your best clothes might sound attractive. But for the person leaving the comment after you has to scroll through all that code and it makes for complicated editing and they might end up messing up your signature. User Pages User Pages are meant as a place for you to introduce yourself to other editors so they know a bit about you. You can also use them for experimentation on creating or drastically changing articles. If you decide to use it for experimentation, make sure to state clearly that you are doing so, so other editors won't be confused. Blogs Blogs are meant for you to express your own creativity! This is the only area in the wiki where you are free to make it an individual project. You can create your own blog once you have signed up and logged in by going to and clicking on the "Blog" tab.